The Minnesota Department of Health confirmed that over 400,000 gallons of water containing radioactive water and chemicals leaked into the ground at the Xcel Energy Monticello Nuclear plant. The company said there is no danger to the public.
However, soon, Twitter breaking handle RAW Alerts said that the ‘leakage has been happening since last year in November of 2022 but the Xcel Energy Monticello Nuclear plant and hasn’t made it public until today’.
“We knew there was a presence of tritium in one monitoring well, however, Xcel had not yet identified the source of the leak and its location,” Minnesota Pollution Control Agency spokesman Michael Rafferty said.
“More water poisoning. Water will be the new gold. 400,000 Gallons of Radioactive Water Leak from Minnesota Nuclear Plant,” a Twitter user said.
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” Welp apparently a nuclear plant in Monticello leaked a measly 400,000 gallons of contaminated water onto Xcel property in NOVEMBER and kept it to themselves. Oh and there’s no risk to the general public. Of course. Guess we’ll all glow in the dark,” another one added.
According to the company, it notified the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the state on November 22, after it confirmed the leak. The leakage came from a pipe between two buildings. Since then, it has been pumping groundwater, storing and processing the contaminated water, which contains tritium levels below federal thresholds.
“Ongoing monitoring from over two dozen on-site monitoring wells confirms that the leaked water is fully contained on-site and has not been detected beyond the facility or in any local drinking water,” the Xcel Energy statement said.
The Monticello plant is about 35 miles northwest of Minneapolis, upstream from the city on the Mississippi River. The company is considering building above-ground storage tanks to store the contaminated water it recovers. It is also looking for options for the treatment, reuse, or final disposal of the collected tritium and water. State regulators will review the options the company selects, the MPCA said.
